Reward Day

          Between the different children's programs at Esther's House, there are sixty-three kids who we see on a daily basis. There are ten children currently residing at Esther's House permanently, but there are fifty-three others from surrounding villages who are in our community program. All of these children come to Esther's House each morning to eat breakfast. We partner with Feed The Children, and they provide Vitameal for kids all over Malawi. With the help of our child sponsors in the U.S., we also provide for their school fees and medical care. Along with this meal in the mornings, these children are expected to come in the afternoons (Monday- Saturday) for classes. They are taught God's Word and English among other things. To encourage good attendance to our program, Stacy and I have established a rewards system for those who do well. It's simple. At the end of every month, we reward those who have had perfect attendance. 

          The pictures below were taken on our first "Reward Day." (Clever title - we know) We had so much fun... Stacy and I found a bag of marshmallows in our pantry, and some chocolate chips. We ran to the store and bought some cookies/ biscuits and voila! - we had S'mores, or at least something that slightly resembled the American version of the snack. We taught some of the older guys how to roast the marshmallows, and to say it was a big hit is an understatement. This, you can certainly see from our pictures...

Joshua (above) and Bruce (below), our two "house dads", were particularly vocal about loving the treat. After explaining the snack and its name, Joshua said repeatedly, "I need some more s'mores, please!!" 

          After the kids ate their snack, we had some fun with water balloons! We played the game in which you throw a balloon to your partner at a certain distance... if they catch it and it doesn't break, you take a step further apart and start a new round. The winner is obviously the last team with their balloon in tact. The kids had so much fun. If ever a balloon burst, it seemed to take us three minutes to settle the kids down to start the game again! 

I think that I may just have the best job ever, this fall.